In the seminar and book, Boyd touches upon the three things that distinguish and drive the Mexican economy: institutions, geography and economic incentives. He will go in-depth on how several factors including natural resources, human resources, economic stagnation, migration and drugs and the breakdown of civil structure shape the Mexican economy.

“We are in a time when migration and the talk of changing NAFTA are common conversations,” Boyd said. “This book will allow the public to better understand how Mexico’s past economic and cultural situations have affected their economy today and the importance of their location to the United States.”

Boyd earned a B.A. in economics from the University of New Mexico and an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Duke University. His areas of specialty include resource economics, international trade, and Computable General Equilibrium Modeling.

Co-authoring the book with Boyd are María Eugenia Ibarrarán, a professor at the Ibero-American University Puebla in Puebla, Mexico, who focused on the geography of Mexico, and Roberto Vélez Grajales, director of the Social Mobility Program at the Espinosa Yglesias Research Center in Mexico City, who focused on the relationship of social mobility and economics in Mexico.